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Jun 09, 2011

Janina rated it:

An astonishing and at the same time disturbing read. Took me some time to get into, but from then on I was hooked. The world Shusterman created felt so vivid and real, it almost scared me. Thought-provoking and highly original. I haven’t read anything like this ever before.

Also, it contained one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever read - not on a graphic level, but more due to the fact that what exactly is happening is left almost completely to the reader's imagination (if you' More...

5 comments like (58 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

Elle rated it:

Holy frak-waffles Batman!! This is awesome.

At first I was like:

... but then I was like:

... and THEN I was all like:

...during that scene where they <spoiler>UNWOUND HIS BRAINS WHILE HE WAS AWAKE!</spoiler> I still have the major heebeejeebs.
I will never eat cauliflower again.

Unwind will shock you. I mean, roll-you-up-in-a-carpet-and-bitch-slap-you kind of More...

17 comments like (152 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Cassy rated it:

You are not going to believe me, but I came to this book with open arms. It survived weeks of cuts and call-backs to become one of the final six books that were carefully wrapped in pajamas before being placed in the suitcase and flown to Switzerland. I only take books I am confident I’ll love on vacation. Well, given the length of this trip, space constraints, and my mercurial ways, they also had to be relatively thin, paperback, and fast-paced, but you get my point.

Alas, from the More...

23 comments like (30 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

Page one, I'm iffy. Pro-life and Pro-choice fight a civil war and the only way to satisfy both armies is the agreement that no abortions take place but from the ages of thirteen to eighteen any child can be unwound and his or her divided body and soul be used as organ donation? First off, pro-choice isn't going to go for a woman sacrificing her body through pregnancy and raising a child thirteen years before she can dispose of it. And pro-life isn't going to go for the termination of a child who More...

10 comments like (39 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Maja rated it:

It’s impossible to understand other people. It’s impossible to understand ourselves most of the time.

At the very beginning, I honestly wasn’t buying the story. I just couldn’t understand parents who would get rid of their child and celebrate by going on a cruise. I should have known better. Our belief systems, morals, cultural conventions, laws… they didn’t just pop out of nothing. They are so deeply ingrained into our society that we never doubt most of them. People, we're sheep!
More...

0 comments like (22 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

K.D. rated it:

Thanks to Ace for lending me this spectacular YA book!

This is the best YA dystopian fiction that I've read so far. Compared to say George Orwell's 1984, the writing seems to be ordinary but Shusterman's imagination is boundless. How could have thought of an idea where below 18 y/o teens are unwound, i.e., all their organs are harvested for transplant use?

While I was in the first 50 pages, I found the novel boring as it reminded me of the teenagers killing each other in S More...

22 comments like (20 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Kira rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

22 comments like (32 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2008

Kewpie rated it:

This is one of those books that once I finished it, I started it over and read the whole thing over again. And even after that, there were parts of it that I kept re-reading and thinking about. Before I go into my long review, I wanted to just mention that this book had one of the most nightmarish and horific scenes that I have ever read in my life. It contained almost no details at all, and none of the sparse details were graphic or gory. And that made it even scarier. My imagination provided m More...

19 comments like (65 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Demolition Lover rated it:

Ugh. Like, what the hell? Why do I have to do this? Whatever.

Demolition Lover's being a lazy ass and is refusing to, like, write her own damn review, because she's "baking" cookies? (Really, I think she ate more dough than cookies.) So like, she's making me do it? Like, seriously? Isn't there some law against that?

So my name is like, Didi? And I'm like, here to talk about Unwind? Yah, okay, let's get on with it, kay?

So like, Demolition thought that this bo More...

9 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2011

Jessica rated it:

What a horrible, horrible dystopian vision Neal Shusterman presents us with in Unwind!

A horrible vision which I found utterly unrealistic in the beginning. I just couldn’t imagine parents having their children "dismantled" because of bad behavior or better say, I couldn’t imagine a society accepting this gruesome procedure as common. After a while, though, I started thinking and considering our history and what people already did let happen, as well as the More...

26 comments like (37 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2011

Flannery rated it:

This book is set in a futuristic America where people may retroactively abort a child between the ages of 13-18 by a process called unwinding. When a child is unwound, nearly every part of them will be used as donations for people who need specific body parts. The plot centers on three different characters who are set to be unwound--a boy whose parents made the choice, a girl who is a ward of the state, and a younger boy whose parents had him solely to donate him as a "gift" to God. I More...

7 comments like (24 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Amelia, the pragmatic idealist rated it:

You all know I try to ignore hype. However, this is one book that is completely deserving of praise, and not only that, it is one of the best dystopians I've ever read.
Why, you ask? I'll refer you to the publication date. Unwind was published in 2007, before dystopians truly took off as the 'next big thayng.' Even before The Hunger Games (2008).
In other words, it's truly innovative and original because there really wasn't anything around at the time for it to copy. In a literary atmosp More...

12 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2011

Sarai rated it:

WARNING: There is a lot of gushing ahead. I mean it, it's almost sickening. You have been warned. --- Unwind is one of those books you can't seem to put down because whenever you finally do, all you end up doing is thinking about the book. It's well-written, addictive, intriguing... and awesome.

The pacing is brilliant. I was hooked from the beginning, which hasn't happened in a while. I also felt like I connected with the characters on a more personal level since it's written in firs More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Haleema rated it:

OH MY SHUSTERMAN!

description

That was my face throughout the whole book

Just kidding. That would be freaky and painful.

Unwind is one of the best books I have ever read. Very rarely do I ever say that. Wow... Where do I start? Well. I must say, it was RIVETING in the most heart-pounding way. An amazing well-crafted, gorgeously written book that is extremely fast paced, gripping and suspenseful. I'll start in a rather organized way.

1. The charac More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2011

Camilla Rose rated it:

This is a really good book!

Norwegian review:
Denne boken er veldig unik med tanke på innholdet. I denne boken er samfunnet slikt at barn mellom 13 og 18 år kan bli "unwound" hvis foreldrene eller vergene velger det- noe som vil si at organene og alle kroppsdelene blir transplantert til forskjellige donorer som trenger dem, slik at livet deres egentlig ikke ender. Denne boken inneholder spørsmål tegn som foreksempel - hvor er sjelen? Forsvinner sjelen når vi dør eller More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2011

Newengland rated it:

So, your teenager's getting under your skin, is he? She's an ungrateful wretch, is she? Smoking, doping, drinking, stealing your money, bagging school, and so on?

Boy, does Neal Shusterman have an answer for YOU. Have the little creep unwound! It's a neat little euphemism (as is the word "harvested") for having G-men show up in the dead (heh) of the night to steal your little big cherub away kicking and screaming. From there the hormonal horror will be taken to a center whe More...

3 comments like (16 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2011

Courtney rated it:

"What if your parents could unwind you?"

This book deserves six stars for its ingenious plot!

The novel opens by explaining that the United States experienced its second civil war instigated by pro-life and pro-choice advocates bent on destroying each other. To end the long, bloody war, government officials came together to create "The Bill of Life," which "states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reache More...

9 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 11, 2010

Lisa rated it:

I’d had this on my to-read shelf and I finally read it for the YA Book Club here at Goodreads; it’s May’s book selection.

Wow, am I wrung out!

Talk about a horror story for 13 through 17 year olds! (Interestingly, I just read The Unit in which 50 and 60 year olds have similar experiences.)

The story is enthralling. The premise is brilliant, though the parallels to the abortion controversy seemed extremely weak to me and I found them irritating for several reasons More...

25 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

Karin rated it:

In a not specified future, the battle between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice reached the boiling point and culminated with the “Second Civil War” also known as the “Heartland War”. After many deaths on both sides, an agreement was reached - a compromise. The Bill of Life was added to the Constitution.

The Bill of Life states that life starts at conception and is protected until the age of thirteen. Once a child reaches the age of thirteen, the parent has the right to Unwind them. Unwind More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2009

Jane rated it:

...Hold on... I'm thinking...

Days after reading:
Still thinking...

The first 3/4 of the book was absolutely amazing, page turner! Then the last 1/4 I slowed down, had to read a couple of times over because it was so mind-gripping. It's disturbing, and [can't seem to find the right word:]. It's pro-life and pro-choice at the extremes at the same time.

I don't know. I have so much to say about this book, but at the same time I have nothing to say at all. More...

5 comments like (16 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

Osho rated it:

A nicely tense dystopian YA novel, first in a series. The story is enjoyable enough to make up for the somewhat expository and clunky present-tense writing. The basic premise provides an interesting distorted reflection of Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go: Abortion is illegal, but adolescents can be "unwound" for spare parts. Logan's Run comes to mind as well. The variety of uses and abuses to which this policy may be put are sometimes shown, sometimes told. The three main characters are en More...

18 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 15, 2011

Jenna Christy rated it:

**OKAY. I'M LITERALLY SO SOOO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED A TAB AND BOOM! THE REVIEW I JUST MADE WAS BAM! GONE! HUHU. I'M JUST GONNA START A NEW AND SHORT ONE. (The review I made was so formally written! now, i'm just gonna stick to my usual exploded, scattered review)** Pardon me.:)

This book seriously bombed my already insane brain. Once you read the "bill of life" and "storking initiative" laws as the solution to the "heartland w More...

7 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Nikita rated it:

I really can't have a proper review of this right now. I'm just dumbfounded at this particular moment and I need some time to sort through my mind and of what to make of my emotions with this book. I really am in confusion.

You know, maybe this is what the book is after all. It leaves you completely out of yourself and totally... UNWIND.

I'm sorry but I can't get a single sensible sentence out of me right now I'll try again sometime later.

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 08, 2009

Michelle rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (18 people liked it)

Nov 27, 2011

Abby rated it:

I'm amazed at how little I had heard about this book before I read it. I'd never seen or heard a review or a word about it, yet it is very well-written and thought provoking. Shusterman created a pretty believable future world where kids between the ages of 13 and 18 can be "unwound"--making them into parts donors. The story jumps a lot from perspective to perspective, giving the reader a glimpse at the minds of different characters. I thought the main characters were satisfyingly roun More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

Stacia ~ platonic rated it:

Have you ever finished a book and been left with an almost speechless feeling?

This is how Unwind made me feel. I thought that the concept of kids being "unwound" (this is just a PC term for body parts being harvested/removed from unruly and unwanted kids) was an interesting and new story that I hadn't heard before. Unwinding results in the teen's death, but it was explained in the book as a chance to "live on" through other people.

I expected that the More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2011

Laura Lulu rated it:

This was a really great YA dystopian read. It takes place in the future, about 2 generations from now--the only clue as to how far in the future is a character is in an antiques shop and makes mention of an ipod from his grandfather's time. :) The story takes place after the Heartland War, the 2nd US Civil War, between the pro-lifers & pro-choicers. To end the war, they come up with the Bill of Life: no abortions or birth control, all babies have a chance at life. But from ages 13-18, parents ha More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2010

Arlene rated it:

I couldn't UNWIND from this book! This is the first novel I've read of Neal Shusterman and definitely not the last! I was hooked immediately and could not put the book down. When I was done with this horrific fictional, dystopic journey, I literally couldn't pick another book up for over a week.

This book is about the battle between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice where the two groups reach a compromise called "The Bill of Life" that states - a life starts at conception and is prot More...

7 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2008

Tasha rated it:

Society has decided that while abortion is not moral, deciding to unwind a teen before their 18th birthday is. Teens get nominated for a program in a variety of ways but the same thing happens to all of them, their body parts are taken and used as donor organs for other people. This way they are not truly dead, but still in some way live on. Connor discovers that his parents have decided to unwind him because of his rebellious nature. Risa is a ward of the state and her piano playing is just More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2009

SheWunders rated it:

I can’t say enough good things about Unwind. The plot held my attention and I couldn’t put it down. It was unpredictable and engaging. I sympathized with all of the characters. I had to know how things worked out for them. I thought the pacing was perfect. There were parts where he slowed down the pace, but that only seemed to turn up the intensity. Crazy. There was an extremely disturbing part where a kid does actually get “unwound” and that was absolutely mind-blowing. It sort of made me nause More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

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